I heart my Thunderbolt - a review, with love

I have returned at last, Blog, for I just have to share about my crazy love affair with my new Thunderbolt phone, which I got last Thursday. I was the very first person to buy one from my local Verizon store because the T’bolt launch date was the exact day I qualified for “New After Two.” Ah, kismet.

Please meet Tybalt, over whom I am so unreasonably giddy as to be singing things like “Longer” by Dan Fogelberg. Okay, that’s an exaggeration, but I do really adore this phone. The reasons why may be no big deal to recent iteration iPhone and Android phone users, so if so, bear with me. To a person who had a 20-month old Blackberry (wow, 20 whole months), Tybalt seems to have come from the future.


1. Speed. I’ll say it again. Speed. I live on the south side of Milwaukee, a city slated to get 4G service by the end of 2011. But I got Tybalt home and discovered that our area actually has it NOW! Whoa, you should see the fastness, it’s almost as good as browsing on my PC, speedwise. Even in 3G areas it is ridonkulously fast.

2.  When you wake Tybalt up, the home screen does what the local weather is doing. Like the clouds part, or it rains and some windshield wipers flash by, or lightning streaks across the screen. I mean, not only does Tybalt know where I am and what the weather is there, he acts it out. Gosh. Okay, that’s fun but I guess I need to focus on more serious issues. (But it is WAY fun.)

3. He is a kickass phone. As in phone. As in crystal clear sound like I used to have on our landline but gave up to save money so I could justify paying for a smartphone. Imagine it! A great phone!

4.  He’s a GPS at no extra charge! I never got GPS on my Blackberry because it was $10/month extra, but not Tybalt. Not only does he know where I am, he knows what direction I am facing. Seriously! Also, I can say at him where I want to go (like “Kohls”) and he finds the nearest Kohls, maps the route, shows me where and can even vocalize turn-by-turn directions! Boo-yah.

5.  A press of a button (the Places app) reveals cool stuff nearby. Restaurants! Bars! Attractions! Gas! Not only that, there are reviews and info and of course, mapping. A vacationer’s dream I tell you.

6.  A way better version of Facebook. FB is key to me, and this version is ten times better than the FB app I had before.  Heck, all the apps seem cooler. You should see the nifty way WeatherBug looks on here, with all the sliding around of panels and stuff.

7.  That spready-finger feature. Yeah, I know this is not exactly cutting-edge, but I love being able to use my fingers to make an area of the browser screen larger. Links work so much better, too. I’ll just say I’m coveting a tablet way less now.

8. Angry Birds. Wow, it’s all they said it was and more. I won’t miss Bubblechain after all.

9. Glorious picture and sound. Yeah, I’m not talking about a TV. The image is so awesome, and the speakers real nice, and I can plug in headphones and get really great stereo sound. Oh Tybalt, is there no electronic device you can’t stand in for?

10. And all that jazz. Where do I stop? There’s a barcode scanner, a really excellent flashlight that I’ve already used, front and back cameras, very convenient syncing of all my email accounts, contacts, bookmarks, calendars, gazillions of apps like Walgreens (where my entire library of photos are stored online) and eBay and YouTube, crazy plentiful customization features, yada yada.

My Blackberry tried to do things, and sometimes did them okay, but often did them half-assed. My Thunderbolt does all things well. (Okay, he can’t totally replace the TV yet, but wait till Hulu is made Android-accessible. And Netflix, what about you too?) Tybolt can do GPS, game device, music player, computer, camera/camcorder, and...wait for it...phone.

You can use a Thunderbolt as a substitute nook or Kindle also, but I’m afraid I also have to hang on to Cranny--he still makes for a better ereader. I have to keep ICU, my real camera, too, but I’m guessing I could stop carrying him everywhere with me and reserve him for vacays and siteseeing trips. Now Abbott Labs just needs to find a way to integrate the continuous glucose monitor into an Android phone and I will only need one device on me to live!

Okay, okay...to be fair, there’s one thing I still kind of need to live, and that’s my PC, Gaiman. But only because I wouldn’t want to try to write a novel on a phone. Or for that matter, Blog, a blog.